Conveniently I took some me time recently and that happened to coincide with the release of Ubisoft’s online shooter RPG.
From the announcement of the game prior to the release of the Xbox One, I wanted this game. The way it looked, and the way they presented squad mentality was something that impressed me. The 2 year wait and the withdrawal of the Drone/Tablet support is a bit disappointing, but something that I can live without given how much I am enjoying the game.
Starting first with the leveling system, it is a combination of experience and completing new missions. When I say that, you can level up all you like, and that will give you slots for new abilities, but without completing missions or encounters in game, you will not be able to gain the necessary resources to upgrade your base, which gives you new abilities, talents and perks, and essentially prevents things like enemy spawn locations being farmed. It encourages you to go out and experience the city, even after completing the main questline.
The story for itself exists in the missions, and tells the stories how how the different factions in the city came to be whilst also investigating the source and cure for the epidemic ravaging the New York. You can also go further into the stories of the citizens of the city in the form of phone recordings, and other methods. Echos are a interesting way of viewing past events in still form and allows you to visualise some of the various recordings that you are hearing.
The gameplay itself plays quite well and the AI in game is quite intelligent, the number of times I have been focused and shooting one opponent while being flanked by another is more than I would like to admit, and the variety of their behaviours means that each encounter (even when replaying missions) will vary from what you would previously experienced in the same area. There are a wide variety of event type missions ranging from defending areas or people to collecting objects, or just wiping out all enemies in an area.
Now onto my thoughts, at this stage I have played just under 50 hours, completed the main questline and reached the level cap, but that does not mean that the game is over for me. For example there is still plenty of side missions and objects to collect, and replayable options to go. I am working on building up my weaponry and gear to be a bit more higher levelled. And that is to play the one part of the game I have not really taken the time to play before now – Dark Zone.
Though I have only spent a little time in the Dark Zone, it plays very similar tot he way it did in the Beta, it is the one place where you can encounter other players, and they can decide to kill you for the loot you carry. Of course you can make the same decision, but whether or not it is worth it to you is for you to decide. Strength in numbers is recommended, and also being in game chat and using the proximity voice, you would be surprised about what you can negotiate and then accomplish with 2 willing squads of 4.
At this stage, I am waiting for the majority of my friends to catch up to my level before jumping into the end game content properly (like challenge modes), but I am really looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish together.
How far have you got? What are your thoughts on the game after less than a week? I would be keen to hear others thoughts on the game.
Farreg 